Thursday, March 17, 2005

There's nothing easier in newspaper criticism than taking pot shots at editing. In other words, no matter how accomplished an editor you are, you will commit errors that fourth-graders will notice. In other other words, the eagle-eyed reader who makes an excellent point about something you let slip through could well be functionally illiterate. In other other other words, the managing editor who might fire you for missing two errors in a story wouldn't necessarily have caught any of the 48 other errors you fixed.

Yes. It is the down side of being an editor. I work for a high-tech company and I edit a lot of work from sales weasels and executives. You can bet I don't hear anyone say "This document was a real piece of @!# until Beerzie Boy looked it over."